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ADDRESS 

OF 

HOMER CUMMINGS 



Temporary Chairman 

of the 

Democratic National Convention 



San Francisco 

June 28 

1920 



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ADDRESS OF HOMER CUMMINGS 
Temporary Chairman 

of the 

Democratic National Convention 
San Francisco, Cal. f June 28, 1920 

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Convention: 

At this high hour when the destinies not only 
of political parties hut of peoples are at stake; 
when social unrest is everywhere apparent; when 
existing forms of government are being chal- 
lenged, and their very foundations disturbed or 
swept away, it is well for us, here in America, to 
pause for a period of solemn deliberation. 

We, who assemble in this great convention, 
counsel together, not merely as members of a 
party, but as children of the Republic. (Ap- 
plause) . Love of country and devotion to human 
service should purge our hearts of all unworthy 
or misleading motives. Let us fervently pray for 
a Divine Blessing upon all that we do or under- 
take. Let us pledge ourselves anew to equality 
of opportunity; the unity of our country above trie 
interests of groups or classes; and the main- 
tenance of the high honor of America in her 
dealings with other nations. (Applause) 

The people will shortly determine which polit- 
ical instrumentality is best suited to their pur- 
poses, most responsive to their needs. They will 



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have before them many platforms and many 
promises. In what direction will they turn? 
There is no better way of judging the future than 
by the past. We ask, therefore, that the people 
turn from the passions and the prejudices of the 
day to the consideration of a record as clear as 
j^^ it is enduring. {Applause) 

Republican Leadership 

The Republican Party was unsuccessful in the 
elections of 1912 because it had persistently served 
special interests and had lost touch with the spirit 
of the time. Those who controlled its destiny de- 
rived their political inspiration from "the good old 
days of Mark 1 1 anna" and neither desired a new 
day nor were willing to recognize a new day when 
it had dawned. {Applause) To each pressing 
problem, they sought merely to reapply the pro- 
cesses of antiquity. ( A pplause ) 

There were elements in the Republican Party 
which were intolerant of its mental sloth and 
j| moral irresponsibility. These influences sought 

to gain party control in 1912 and again, in 1910. 
They renewed the hopeless struggle at the con- 
vention recently held at Chicago. 

Despite these efforts, the leaders who have ma- 
nipulated the party mechanism for more than a 
generation, are still in undisputed control. 

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The Republican platform, reactionary and 
provincial, is the very apotheosis of political ex- 
pediency. Filled with premeditated slanders and 
vague promises, it will be searched in vain for one 
constructive suggestion for the reformation of the 
conditions which it criticises and deplores. ( A p- 
plause) The oppressed peoples of the earth will 
look to it in vain. It contains no message of hope 
for Ireland (Applause) \ no word of mercy for 
Armenia (Applause) ; and it conceals a sword 
for Mexico. (Applause) It is the work of men 
concerned more with material things than with 
human rights. It contains no thought, no pur- 
pose which can give impulse or thrill to those who 
love liberty and hope to make the world a safer 
and happier place for the average man. (Ap- 
plause) 

Democratic Achievements 

The Democratic Party is an unentangled party 
— a free party — owing no allegiance to any class 
or group or special interest. We were able to take 
up and carry through to success the <?reat pro- 
gressive program outlined in our platform of 
1012. During the months which intervened be- 
tween March 4th. 1913, and the outbreak of the 
World War, we placed upon the statute books of 

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our country more effective, constructive and 
remedial legislation than the Republican Party 
had placed there in a generation. (Applause) 

The Income Tax was made a permanent part 
of the revenue producing agencies of the country, 
thereby relieving our law of the reproach of being 
unjustly burdensome to the poor. The extrav- 
agances and inequities of the tariff system were 
removed; and a non-partisan tariff commission 
was established so that future revisions might be 
made in the light of accurate information, scien- 
tifically and impartially obtained. Pan-Ameri- 
canism was encouraged; and the bread thus cast 
upon the international waters came back to us 
many fold. The great reaches of Alaska were 
opened up to commerce and development. Dol- 
lar diplomacy was destroyed. A corrupt lobby 
was driven from the national capitol. An effec- 
tive Seaman's Act was adopted. The Federal 
Trade Commission was created. Child Labor 
legislation was enacted. The Parcel Post and the 
Rural Free Delivery were developed. A Good 
Roads Bill and a Rural Credits Act were passed. 
A Secretary of Labor was given a seat in the 
Cabinet of the President. (Applause) Fight 
hour laws were adopted. The Clayton Amend- 
ment to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed, 



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The Federal Reserve System 

If the Democratic Party had accomplished 
nothing more than the passage of the Federal Re- 
serve Act, it would be entitled to the enduring 
gratitude of the nation. (Applause) This Act 
supplied the country with an elastic currency con- 
trolled by the American people. Panics — the re- 
curring phenomena of disaster which the Republi- 
can Party could neither control nor explain — 
( . / pplause)* — are now but a memory. I Fnder the 
Republican system, there was an average of one 
bank failure every twenty-one days for a period 
of nearly forty years. After the passage of the 
Federal Reserve System, there were, in 1915, 
four bank failures; in 1916 and 1917, three bank 
failures; in 1918, one bank failure (Applause) ; 
and in 1919, no bank failures at all. (Applause 
and rising demonstration) The Federal Reserve 
System, passed over the opposition of the leaders 
of the Republican Party, enabled America to 
withstand the strain of war without shock or 
panic; and ultimately made our country the 
greatest creditor nation of the world. (Applause) 

Achievements in War 

And then the Great War came on. Ultimate- 
ly, by the logical steps of necessity, our peace- 

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loving nation was drawn into the conflict. The 
necessary war legislation was quickly supplied. 

A War Finance Corporation was created. 
War Risk Insurance was provided. Shipbuild- 
ing laws re-established America's supremacy upon 
the seas. The Office of .Alien Property Custodian 
was created. A War Industries Hoard was es- 
tablished. A War Trade Hoard was created. 
Food and Fuel regulations were formulated. 
Vast loans were successfully floated. Vocational 
training was provided. A National Council of 
Defense was created. Industry was successfully 
mobilized. ( Applause) 

Almost over night, the factories of the nation 
were made a part of the war machine, and the 
miraculous revival of the shipping industry filled 
the ocean lanes with our transports. 

Our fleet laid the North Sea mine barrage. 
We sent fighting craft to every sea and brought 
new courage and inventive genius to the crucial 
fight against the U-boat. (Applause) 

In transporting our troops to France, we never 
lost a man in a ship convoyed by the American 
Navy. ( A ppla use ) 

One of the first decisions was between the 
volunteer system and the selective draft. Many 
patriotic citizens strongly deprecated conscrip- 

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tion and dreaded its possibilities. The Adminis- 
tration, however, placed its influence behind the 
measure, secured its passage, and made possible 
the winning f the war. (Applause) 

It proved a democratic system assuring equal 
service, equal danger and equal opportunity. At 
one stroke of the pen, bounty jumping, and the 
hired substitutes that had disgraced the manage- ) 
ment of the Civil War were made impossible. The I 
selection of men to go to the front was placed 
not merely in the hands of the civil authorities, 
but actually in the hands of the friends and neigh- 
bors of the men eligible for service. No funda- 
mental law was ever administered with such 
scrupulous honor. (Applause) Not one breath 
of scandal touched this legislation; and so cheer- 
fully was it accepted that today, the term "draft 
dodger" is an epithet of reproach in any com- 
munity. ( A pplause ) 

Partisanship was put aside in the selection of 
General Pershing as leader of our forces (Ap- 
plause) and no military commander in history 
was ever given a freer hand or more unflagging 
support. (Applause) The policy of selecting 
officers through training camps avoided the use 
of political favorites and guaranteed competent 
leadership for the youth of the land. Ten mil- 

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lion men were registered within three months 
from the declaration of war and thirty-two camp 
cities, complete in every municipal detail, were 
built in ninety days. {Applause) 

In France, we had to construct our own docks, 
railroad lines, storage depots, hospitals and ord- 
nance bases. We had to cut down the forests 
for our barracks. In June, two months after the 
declaration of war, our fighting men were in 
France: in October, Americans were on the fir- 
ing line: in scarcely more than a year, we had 
two million men in France, had whipped the 
enemy at Belleau Wood (Applause) beaten 
them back at Chateau Thierry, wiped out the 
St. Mihiel salient and delivered the terrific ham- 
mer blow at Sedan that virtually ended the war. 
(Great applause and cheers). 

Less than two years ago. General Ilaig, with 
the blindness of a soldier, said: "The British 
Army is fighting with its back to the wall"; 
Lloyd George was crying: "It is a race between 
Wilson and Hindenburg" ; and France clung 
like a drowning man to the Rock of Verdun, 
turning agonized eyes toward America. And 
America came. We challenge the critics of the 
Administration to point out how, within the 
limits of human possibility, the war could have 

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been won more promptly or with less loss of 
American life. (Applause) 

It was not by mere chance that these things 
were accomplished. To readjust the processes 
of peace so as to serve the activities of war re- 
quired leadership of unexampled skill. Petty 
criticism of minor defects and individual officials 
may for a time attract a superficial attention, 
but the significant things, the great outstanding 
facts plead eloquently for the Democratic cause. 
(Applause) 

Let no one misunderstand us. These great 
affairs were carried forward under the stimulus 
of .American patriotism, supported by the cour- 
age and the spirit of our people. All this is freeh- 
and gladly acknowledged, but surely the time 
has come when, because of the calculated criti- 
cism and the premeditated calumnies of the op- 
position, we are entitled to call attention to the 
fact that all of these things were accomplished 
under the leadership of a great Democrat and a 
great Democratic Administration. (Applause 
mid demonstration). We have no apologies to 
make — not one. (Applause) We are proud of 
our great Navy; we are proud of our splendid 
Army; we are proud of the power of our coun- 
try and the manner in which that power has been 
used; we are proud of the work that America 

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has done in the world; we are, proud of the hero- 
ism of American men and women; and we are 
proud of the inspired and incomparable leader- 
ship of Woodrow Wilson. (Applause, cheers 
and rising demonstration). 

Has not the time come when all Americans, 
irrespective of party, should begin to praise the 
achievements of our country rather than to criti- 
cise them' (Applause\ Surely a just and 
righteous sense of national pride should protect 
us from the insensate assaults of mere partisans. 
We fought a great war, for a great cause, and 
we had a leadership that carried America to 
greater heights of honor and power and glory 
than she has ever known before in her entire his- 
tory. (Applause) If the American flag must be 
lowered, it will be hauled down in a Republican 
Convention and not in a Democratic Convention. 
(Great Applause) 

Partisan Investigations. 

It is this shining record of tremendous achieve- 
ment that Republican managers and the Chicago 
Platform seek to shame and besmirch. Various 
Congressional committees, which for want of a 
more appropriate term, are called "smelling com- 
mittees" ( Lauyhter) were appointed for the pur- 

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pose of ascertaining whether or not there was any 
graft in the conduct of the Great War. Over 
eighty investigations have been made, over two 
million dollars have been wasted, and the one re- 
sult has been to prove that it was the cleanest 
war ever fought in the history of civilization. 
(Applause) 

Through the hands of a Democratic Adminis- 
tration, there have passed more than forty bil- 
lions of dollars, and the finger of scorn does not 
point to one single Democratic official in all 
America. (Applause) It is a record never be- 
fore made by any political party in any country 
that ever conducted a war. (Applause) 

If Republican leaders are not able to rejoice 
with us in this American triumph, they should 
have the grace to remain silent, for it does not 
lie in the mouths of those who conducted the 
Spanish American War to indulge in the luxury 
of criticism. (Applause) What was there in 
this war to compare with the typhoid infested 
camps and the paper soled shoe controversy of 
1898? What was there in this war to compare to 
the embalmed beef scandal (Applause) of the 
Spanish- American War? Despite all their in- 
vestigations, not one single Democratic official 
has either been indicted or accused or even sus- 

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pected; and the only dignitary in America, of 
any outstanding political significance who has 
experienced unpleasant contact with the public 
statutes, is Truman Newberry, of Michigan. 
(Applause, loud and continued). 

The very power of the Republican Party to 
conduct a partisan investigation of the war, to 
criticise the President, to control the organiza- 
tion of the Senate and to wreck the prospect of 
world peace, rests upon a bare majority of one, 
secured through the tainted senatorial vote from 
Michigan. (Applause) 

The Republican Party became so fixed in its 
incorrigible habit of conducting investigations 
that it finally turned to the fruitful task of in- 
vestigating itself. (Applause and laughter) 
For the first time since they entered upon this 
program, they discovered fraud and graft and 
gross and inexcusable expenditures. The reve- 
lations disclose the fact, long understood by the 
initiated, that the meeting at Chicago was not 
a convention but an auction. (Applause and 
laughter) The highest bidder, however, did not 
get the prize. The publicity which overtook the 
proceedings frustrated the initial purpose. 
(Laughter) In more senses than one, the recent 
Chicago Convention has left the Democratic 

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Party as the sole custodian of the honor of the 
country. (Applause) 

The Cost of the War. 

There are men so small in spirit, so pitifully 
cramped in soul, that they suggest that the war 
cost too much, The Republican platform echoes 
this complaint. It was indeed, an expensive 
war. War is the most wasteful thing in the 
world. But is money to be measured against the 
blood of American soldiers? Would it not be 
better to spend a billion dollars for shells that 
were never exploded, than to have one American 
boy on the firing line minus an essential car- 
tridge? (Cries of "yes" and applause). Was 
it not better to prepare for a long war and make 
it short, than to prepare for a short war and 
make it long? (Applause) When criticism is 
made of the expense of war, let us not forget 
that we bought with it the freedom and the safety 
of the civilization of the world. (Applause, loud 
and continued) . 

Preparedness. 

Again, they say that we were not prepared 
for war. In a strict military sense, a democracy 
is never prepared for war; but America made 

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ready in a way that was far more effective than 
by maintaining, at enormous cost, great arma- 
ments, which neither party ever advocated and 
which our people would never approve. 

Wars are not fought by armies alone. They 
are fought by nations. It is a measuring of the 
economic strength of nations. The front line 
trench is no stronger than the forces which lie 
behind the trench. The line of communication 
reaches back to every village, farm, counting 
house, factory and home. America prepared by 
making the economic life of the country sound. 

What would have been our situation, if, prior 
to the outbreak of the war, we had not prepared 
so that our farmers were able to feed the armies of 
the world ? What would have been our situation if 
labor had not been willing to follow the leader- 
ship of the President? What would have been 
the situation if we had not established a currency 
system which made it possible for us to finance 
the war? What would have been the situation 
if the Republican Party had been in control and 
had maintained its old attitude toward legisla- 
tion? There would have been an inevitable 
breaking down of the economic structure of our 
country. We would have been caught in the 
throes of a panic more devastating than any we 

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had ever known. Industrial life would have been 
disorganized and the tasks of war, difficult as 
they were, might then have become altogether 
impossible. (Applause) 

The Republican Record Since 1918. 

The Republicans have now been in control of 
the Senate and the House for more than a year. 
They won the election of 1918 upon the faith of 
alluring promises. They said that they would 
earnestly support the President, at least, until 
the tasks of war were finished. It was their con- 
tention that they would enter upon the work of 
reconstruction with superior intelligence and 
even with greater patriotism than would be pos- 
sible under Democratic leadership. They gave 
publicity, when they entered upon the recent ses- 
sion, to detailed and ambitious statements as to 
their program. If we are to be judged, as I 
hope we may be, by the record, let them also be 
judged by the record. (Applause) What have 
the Republicans accomplished since their polit- 
ical success in 1918? What beneficial results 
have flowed to the American people? What 
promises have been redeemed? What progress 
has been made in the settlement of foreign or 
domestic questions? (Applause) 

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Twice the President went before Congress, 
since the termination of hostilities, calling atten- 
tion to needed legislation. He urged the passage 
of laws relating to profiteering; measures to 
simplify and reduce taxation; appropriate action 
relative to the returning soldiers; the passage of 
a resolution concerning the constructive plans 
worked out in detail by former Secretary Lane, 
and the measures advocated by the Secretary of 
Agriculture. He suggested that the Congress 
take counsel together and provide legislation 
with reference to industrial unrest, and the mutual 
relations of capital and labor. After more than 
a year of sterile debate, our country has neither 
peace nor reconstruction. (Applause) Barren 
of achievement, shameless in waste of time and 
money, the record of the present Congress is 
without parallel for its incompetencies, failures 
and repudiations. Are the American people so 
unjust or so lacking in discrimination that they 
will reject the service of a party which has kept 
its word, and place trust in a party which merely 
renews the broken promises of a previous cam- 
paign ( (Applause) 

Attacks Upon the President. 

Republican leaders have been moved by a 
strange and inexplicable jealousy of the Presi- 

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dent. Their feverish animosity, expressed in 
gross abuse and through secret intrigue, has been 
productive of one of the most unhappy chapters 
in American history, recalling the similar ex- 
periences of Lincoln and Washington. Political 
malice followed the President to the Peace Table. 
A Senatorial "round robin" was widely circulat- 
ed. Every device which partisanship could de- 
velop, was employed for the purpose of weaken- 
ing the influence of our Commission at Paris, 
and making the task there still more difficult. 
At a time when ever}' instinct of fairness plead- 
ed for a whole-hearted support of the President, 
political antagonism and personal envy control- 
led the anti-Administration forces. 

The President made every sacrifice for the 
cause of peace. (Applause) The long con- 
tinued strain while composing differences 
abroad; the expenditure of nervous vitality and 
intellectual force in building a new order of 
human relationships upon the ruins of the old, 
laid heavy toll upon his reserve powers. Then 
came the return in triumph, only to find here a 
widespread propaganda of opposition, making it 
imperative that he take up in his own country, 
a struggle for the preservation of that which had 
been won at such incalculable cost. Following 

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the superhuman labors of seven years of unex- 
ampled service, this meant the wreck of his 
health, sickness for months upon a bed of pain, 
and worse than the physical sickness, the sickness 
of heart which comes from the knowledge that 
political adversaries, lost to the larger sense of 
tilings, are savagely destroying not merely the 
work of men's hands, but the world's hope of set- 
tled peace. This was the affliction — this the 
crucifixion. 

As he lay stricken in the White House, the 
relentless hand of malice beat upon the door of 
the sick chamber. The enemies of the President 
upon the floor of the Senate repeated every 
slander that envy could invent, and they could 
scarcely control the open manifestation of their I 
glee when the Great Man was stricken at last. 
The Congress was in session for months while the 
President lay in the White House, struggling 
with a terrifying illness and, at times, close to 
the point of death. He had been physically 
wounded just as surely as were Garfield and 
McKinley and Lincoln, for, it is but a difference 
of degree between fanatics and partisans. (Ap- 
plause) The Congress, during all this period, 
when the whole heart of America ought to have 
been flowing out, in love and sympathy, did not 

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find time, amid their bickerings, to pass one res- 
olution of generous import or extend one kindly 
inquiry as to the fate of the President of their 
own country. {Applause and Cries of "Shame on 
them.") 

And what was his offense? Merely this— 
that he strove to redeem the word that America 
had given to the world; that he sought to save a 
future generation from the agony through which 
this generation had passed; that he had taken 
seriously the promises that all nations had made 
that they would unite at the end of the war in a 
compact to preserve the peace of the world; and 
that he relied upon the good faith of his own 
people. (Applause) If there was any mistake, 
it was that he made a too generous estimate of 
mankind, that he helieved that the idealism which 
had made the war a great spiritual victory, 
could he relied upon to secure the legitimate fruit 
of the war— the reign of universal peace. (Ap- 
plause) 

In one sense, it is quite immaterial what people 
say about the President. Nothing we can say 
can add or detract from the fame that will flow 
down the unending channels of history. (Ap- 
plause) Generations yet unhorn will look back 
to this era and pay their tribute of honor to the 

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man who led a people through troublous ways 
out o\' the valleys of selfishness up to the moun- 
tain tops of achievement and honor, and there 

showed them the promised land of freedom and 
' ... 

safety and fraternity. Whether history records 

that they entered in or turned their hacks upon 

the vision, it is all one with him — he is immortal. 

(A pplausc and rising demonstration). 

1 am afraid, my friends, that this speech is 

#ettin# a little long. (Voices: "Go ahead — the 

country needs it — tell the story. 9 ') I will hasten 

as fast as I can. (Voices: "Don't he in a hurry 

—tell the story.") 

Tin: Requirements of Honor. 

There arc men who seem to he annoyed when 
we suggest that American honor is hound up in 
this contest, and that good faith requires that we 
should enter the League of Nations. The whole 
Republican ease is based upon the theory that we 
may, with honor, do as we please about this mat- 

ter and that we have made no promises which 
it is our duty to redeem. Let us turn again to 
the record. ( Applause) 

The Republican Tarty in its platform in 191ft 
had declared for a world court, "for the pacific 
settlement of international disputes." The 

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Progressive Party in 1912 and in 1916 had like- 
wise, declared for an arrangement between na- 
tions to make peace permanent. The Democrat- 
ic Party in 1916 had specifically declared in favor 
of the establishment of a League of Nations. 
The Senate itself, on August 28th, 1916. by 
unanimous vote, passed a measure requesting the 
President to take the lead in such a world move- 
ment. (Applause) 

On December 18th, 1916, the President ad- 
dressed an identic note to the nations at war, re- 
questing them to state the terms upon which 
they would deem it possible to make peace. In 
this note, he proposed the creation of a League 
of Nations, saying 

"In the measures to be taken to secure the 
future peace of the world, the people and gov- 
ernment of the United States are as vitally and 
directly interested as the governments now at 
war. * * * They stand ready and even 
eager to co-operate in the accomplishment of 
these ends when the war is over with every in- 
fluence and resource at their command." 
(Applause) 

This was four months before America entered 
the war. 

To this identic note, the Central Powers an- 
swered evasively, but the Allies, in their reply 
dated at Paris, January 10th, 1917, declared: 

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"Their whole-hearted agreement with the 
proposal to create a League of Nations which 
shall assure peace and justice throughout the 
world." (Applause) 

On January 22nd, 1917, the President addres- 
sed the Senate with reference to these replies, 
and said: 

"In every discussion of the peace that must 
end this war, it is taken for granted that the 
peace must l>e followed by some definite con- 
cert of power which shall make it virtually im- 
possible that any such catastrophe shall over- 
whelm us again/' (Applause) 

Speaking of the League of Peace which was 
to follow the war, he said: 

"If the peace presently to be made is to en- 
dure, it must be a peace made secure by the 
organized major force of mankind." (Ap- 
plause) 

Acting upon these proposals, both the French 
and the British governments appointed commit- 
tees to study the problem while the war was still 
in progress. 

On April 2nd, 1917, the President delivered 
his famous war message to Congress, and thrilled 
the heart of the country anew by his announced 
ourpose to make the contest "a war against war." 
Ilitrh above all of our other aims, he placed 



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"a universal dominion of right by such a con- 
cert of free peoples as shall bring peace and 
safety to all nations and make the world itself 
at last free." (Applause) 

Following this message, the Congress hy re- 
solution, passed April 6th, 1917, recognized the 
state of war. 

On January 8th, 1918, the President went be- 
fore Congress and set forth his famous Fourteen 
Points. The fourteenth point, which is practi- 
cally identical in language with the provisions of 
Article X of the covenant, provided that 

"a general association of nations must be 
formed under specific covenants for the pur- 
pose of affording mutual guarantees of po- 
litical independence and territorial integrity 
to great and small states alike." (Applause) 

Senator Ix>dge himself, before the exigencies 
of politics forced him to take the other side, said 
that an attempt to make a separate peace would 
"brand us with everlasting dishonor" and that 
t "the intent of the Congress and the intent of 

the President, was that there could be no peace 
until we could create a situation where no such 
war as this could recur." ( A pplause ) 

Former President Roosevelt, on July 18th, 
1918, said: 

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"Unless we stand by all our Allies who have 
stood by us, we shall have failed in making 
the liberty of well-behaved, civilized peoples 
secure and we shall have shown that our 
announcement alxnit making the world safe 
for democracy was an empty boast." (Ap- 
plause) 

On November 4th, 1018, the armistice was 
agreed to and it was concluded upon the basis of 
the fourteen points set forth in the address of 
President Wilson delivered to Congress on Jan- 
uary 8th. 1018. and the principles subsequently 
enunciated by him. {Applause) At no point, 
at no time, during no period while this history 
was in the making, was one responsible American 
voice raised in protest. (Applause) 

Thus, before we entered the war, we made the 
pledge: during the war we restated the pledge; 
and when the armistice was signed, all of the 
nations, ourselves included, renewed the pledge; 
and it was upon the faith of these promises that 
Germany laid down her arms. [Applause) 
Practically all of the civilized nations of the earth 
have now united in a covenant which constitutes 
the redemption of that pledge. We alone have 
thus far failed to keep our word. Others may 
break faith; the Senate of the United States may 
break faith; the nepublican Party may break 

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faith ; but neither President Wilson nor the De- 
mocratic Party will break faith. (Great Ap- 
plause) 

The Fundamental Purpose. 

In this hemisphere, the mere declaration of our 
young republic that the attempt of any foreign 
power to set foot on American soil would be con- 
sidered an unfriendly act, has served to preserve 
"the territorial integrity and the political inde- 
pendence" of the nations of Central and South 
America. The Treaty pledges all of the signa- 
tories to make this doctrine effective everywhere. 
It is the Monroe Doctrine of the world. (Ap- 
plause) 

The purpose of the League is to give notice 
that if any nation raises its menacing hand and 
seeks to cross the line into any other country, the 
forces of civilization will be aroused to suppress 
the common enemy of peace. Therein lies the se- 
curity of small nations and the safety of the 
world. ( A pplause ) 

Every war between nations that has ever been 
fought began in an attempt to seize foreign ter- 
ritory or to invade political independence. If, in 
1914, Germany had known that in the event of 
hostilities. Great Britain would have entered the 

28 



war; that France would go in; that Italy would 
go in; that Japan would go in; and that the 
United States would go in — there would have 
heen no war. (Applause) 



0* 



)> 



Objections to the Treaty. 

The opponents of the Treaty cry out "Shall 
we send our boys abroad to settle a political 
quarrel in the Balkans?" Immediately, the un- 
thinking applaud and the orator records a mo- 
mentary triumph. Have we forgotten that that is 
precisely what America has already done? Have 
we forgotten that we sent more than two million 
men to France, spent more than twenty billions 
of dollars and sacrificed nearly a hundred thou- 
sand lives to settle a Balkan dispute? 

There was a controversy between Serbia and 
Austria. Territorial questions, political rights and 
boundary lines were involved. The Crown Prince 
of the House of Austria was assassinated. A 
little flame of war licked up into the powder 
house of Europe, and in a moment, the continent 
was in flames. It took all the power of civiliza- 
tion to put out the conflagration. How idle to 
inquire whether we wish to send our boys to set- 
tle political disputes in the Balkans ! 



m 



^ 



-> 



It is extraordinary that men should waste our 
time and vex our patience by suggesting the fear 
that we may be forced into future wars while 
forgetting entirely that America was forced into 
this greatest of all wars. No League of Nations 
existed when we entered the war; and it was only 
when we formed in haste, in the midst of battle, 
a league of friendship under unified command, 
that we were able to win this war. (Applause) 
This association of nations, held together by a 
common purpose, fought the war to a victorious 
conclusion, dictated the terms of the armistice 
and formulated the terms of peace. If such a 
result could be achieved by an informal and tem- 
porary agreement, why should not the associa- 
tion be continued in a more definite and binding 
form? {Applause) What plausible reason can 
be suggested for wasting the one great asset 
which has come out of the war? How else shall 
we provide for international arbitration? How 
else shall we provide for a permanent court of 
international justice? How else shall we provide 
for open diplomacy? I low else shall we provide 
safety from external aggression ? How else shall 
we provide for progressive disarmament? How 
else shall we check the spread of Bolshevism? 
How else shall industry be made safe and the 
basis of reconstruction established? How else 

30 



shall society be steadied so that the processes of 
healing may serve their beneficent purpose? Un- 
til the critics of the League offer a better meth- 
od of preserving the peace of the world, they are 
not entitled to one moment's consideration in the 
forum of the conscience of mankind. (Applause 
long continued) 

Not only does the covenant guarantee justice 
for the future but it holds the one remedy for the 
evils of the past. As it stands to-day, war is 
the one way in which America can express its 
sympathy for the oppressed of the world. The 
League of Nations removes the conventional 
shackles of diplomacy. Lender the covenant, it 
is our friendly right to protest against tyranny 
and to act as counsel for the weak nations now 
without an effective champion. (Applause) 



' 



The Existing League. 

The Republican platform contains a vague 
promise to establish another or a different form 
of association amongst nations of a tenuous and 
shadowy character. Our proposed co-partners 
in such a project are unnamed and unnamable. 
It is not stated whether it is proposed to invite 
the nations that have established the present 
League to dissolve it and to begin anew, or 

31 



<* 



whether the purpose is to establish a new asso- 
ciation of a competitive character, composed of 
the nations that repudiated the existing League. 
The devitalizing character of such an expedient 
requires no comment. Fatuous futility could 
be carried no farther. There is no mental dis- 
honesty more transparent than that which ex- 
^) presses fealty to a League of Nations while op- 

posing the only League of Nations that exists 
or is ever apt to exist. (Applause) Why close 
our eyes to actual world conditions? A League 
of Nations already exists. It is not a project, it 
is a fact. We must either enter it or remain out 
of it. 

What nations have actually signed and rati- 
fied the Treaty? (Cries of "name them/') 

Brazil, Bolivia, Great Britain, Canada, Aus- 
tralia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, 
Czecho- Slovakia, Guatemala, Liberia, Panama, 
Peru, Uruguay, Siam, Greece, Poland, Japan, 
Italy, France and Belgium. (Applause) 

What neutral states, invited to join the 
League, have actually done so? (Repeated 
cries "name them") 

Norway, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Den- 
mark, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, 

32 



' 



b 



D 



Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, and Switzer- 
land. (Applause) 

Even China will become a member when she 
ratifies the Austrian treaty. 

Germany has signed and is preparing to take 
the place which awaits her in the League of 
Nations. 

What nations stand outside? (Cries of "give 
us the names?") Revolutionary Mexico, Bol- 
shevist Russia, Unspeakable Turkey and — the 
United States of America. (Groans, Applause 
and demonstration) 

It is not yet too late. Let us stand with the 
forces of civilization. The choice is plain. It is 
between the Democratic Party's support of the 
League of Nations, with its program of peace, 
disarmament and world fraternity, and the Re- 
publican Party's platform of repudiation, pro- 
vincialism, militarism and world chaos. (Ap- 
plause) 

Equality of Voting. 

There is great pretense of alarm because the 
United States has but one vote in the interna- 
tional assembly, against the six votes of Great 
Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South 
Africa and India. This popular argument 

33 



against the League of Nations is as insincere as 
it is superficial. It ignores the fact that the Exe- 
cutive Council, and not the Assembly, is the 
governing body of the League, and that our 
country is one of the five countries having per- 
manent membership in the Council. The colonial 
votes exist only in the Assembly. 

J Nor should we forget that France has but one 

vote; Italy has but one vote! and Japan has but 
one vote. If there were any injustice in the ar- 
rangement, surely these nations would have 
sensed it and objected to it. No affirmative ac- 
tion can be taken in any essential matter without 
a unanimous vote of all members of the Council 
of the League. No decision of the League, if 
America joined it, could be made effective or 
even promulgated without our consent. Like 
every other nation, we have a veto power upon 
every resolution or act of the League. We can 
be involved in no enterprise except of our own 
choosing; and if we are not satisfied with the 
League, we can sever our connection with it upon 
two years' notice. The risk exists only in the; 
imagination, the service is incalculable. (Ap- 
plause) 

Moreover, the L T nited States insisted that 
Cuba, Haiti, Liberia, Panama, Nicaragua, Hon- 

34 



. 



\ 



duras and Guatemala should each he given a 
vote, as well as the nations of South America, 
great and small. Including the nations which are 
hound by vital interests to the United States, or, 
indeed, directly under our tutelage, we have 
more votes in the League of Nations than any 
other nation. How could we, in good faith, urge 
that these nations he given a voice and deny a 
voice to such self-governing nations as Canada, 
New Zealand and the rest, which relatively 
speaking, made far more sacrifices in the war 
than our own country? It is desirable that all 
countries should have an opportunity to he heard 
in the League; and the safety of each nation 
resides in the fact that no action can he taken 
without the consent of all. (Applause) 

Responsibility for the Defeat 
of the Treaty. 

It was the design of Senator Lodge, from the 
outset, to mutilate the Treaty and to frustrate 
the purposes of the Administration. And yet 
Senator Lodge, with the help of the irreconcil- 
ables, having torn the Treaty to tatters and 
thrown its fragments in the face of the world, 
has the effrontery to suggest, in his address at 
Chicago, that the President blocked ratification 
and postponed peace. 

35 



I 



; 



The trouble with the Treaty of Peace is that 
it was negotiated by a Democratic President. 
(Applause) It is not difficult to assess the re- 
sponsibility for its defeat. The responsibility 
rests, not upon its friends,, but upon its enemies. 

The Foreign Relations Committee, imme- 
diately following the last election, was reorganiz- 
ed with a personnel consisting of the open foes 
of the Treaty. Amongst the number was Senator 
Borah, who declared that he would not be for a 
League of Nations, were the Savior of mankind 
to advocate it. Senator Johnson, Senator Knox 
and Senator Moses, whose hatred of the Presi- 
dent amounts to an obsession, were also mem- 
bers; and Senator Lodge was chairman. 

The Treaty was referred to the Committee 
thus studiously prepared for its hostile reception. 
The members of this committee adopted every 
subterfuge to misrepresent the document which 
they were supposed to be considering as states- 
men. Deputations of foreign born citizens were 
\ \ brought to Washington in an effort to color and 

exaggerate the impression of popular opposition. 

The Senate had even begun the discussion of 
the Treaty months before its negotiation was con- 
cluded, and did not terminate its debate until 
nine months after the submission of the Treaty. 



It took the Senate nearly three times as long to 
kill the Treaty by protracted debate and by con- 
fusing and nullifying amendments and reserva- 
tions as it took the representatives of the allied 
governments to draft it. ( A pplause ) 

It was not the business of the President, when 
he brought this Treaty back from France, to 
join with Mr. Lodge and other Republican 
leaders in their deliberate purpose to destroy it. 
Had he initiated, suggested or assented to chang- 
es which would have substantially altered its na- 
ture, it would have been a distinct breach of faith 
with his associates of the Peace Council and a 
violation of American pledges. (Applause) 
Everyone acquainted with diplomatic usages, or 
with the plain requirements of honesty, under- 
stands this. The foolish invention that the Presi- 
dent refused to permit the dotting of an "i" or 
the crossing of a "t" has been so often repeated 
that many honest people believe in its truth. 

During his tour, the President repeatedly ex- 
pressed entire willingness to accept any and all 
reservations not incompatible with America's 
honor and true interests. It is the plain intent of 
the covenant that the Monroe Doctrine is exclud- 
ed, that domestic questions are exempted, that 
not one American can be sent out of the country 

37 



without formal action by Congress and that the 
right of withdrawal is absolute. If there are 
words which can make these meanings clearer, 
they will be welcomed. It is not reservations 
that the President stands against, but nullifica- 
tion. (Applause) 

i 
When the President came back from Paris in 
February, 1919, he brought the first tentative 
draft of the covenant of the League of Nations. 
He gave publicity to it. It was published 
throughout the land. He invited the friends of 
such a League to submit criticisms. Former 
President Taft offered four amendments; form- 
er Senator Root offered six amendments; and 
Mr. Hughes suggested seven. At a meeting of 
the Committee on Foreign Relations at the 
White House in March, 1919, other changes 
were suggested. These amendments were taken 
back by the President to Paris and their sub- 
stance was actually incorporated in the revised 
draft of the League. Dr. Lowell, President of 
Harvard University, in his joint debate with 
Senator Lodge, invited the latter to suggest con- 
structive amendments which the President might 
incorporate in the draft; but he refused so to do. 
At no time has he offered constructive amend- 
ments. At no time has he failed to offer destruc- 

38 



tive criticism. So intolerant was his attitude that 
he would not even consider a compromise pro- 
posed by former President Taf t of his own party 
and which was assured of the support of forty 
Democratic Senators. Senator Lodge knew that 
he controlled the Senate and that in his own time 
and way, he could destroy the Treaty. 

This is the sordid story of its defeat. No 
blacker crime against civilization has ever soiled 
the pages of our history. (Applause) The last 
chapter was written at Chicago. 

The Republican platform not only repudiates 
the League of Nations, but praises, without dis- 
crimination, all of the Republican Senators who 
participated in its defeat. Its words of benedic- 
tion fall alike upon the irreconcilables, the Lodge 
reservationists, the mild reservationists and those 
who proposed a separate peace with Germany. 
It is consistent in one thing only, the recognition 
of the fact that the open foes of the Treaty, the 
secret foes of the Treaty, and the apparent 
friends of the Treaty who conspired with its 
enemies, are equally responsible for the destruc- 
tion of the instrument itself. (Applause) It 
would be idle to inquire by what political leger- 
demain this meaningless and yet ominous de- 
claration was prepared. It is enough to know 

39 



that the "Old Guard" sold the honor of America 
for the privilege of nominating a reactionary for 
President. ( A pplause ) 

The Cause of Peace. 

The war had set a great task for statesman- 
ship. The best thought of the world demanded 
that a serious attempt be made by the leaders 
of the allied governments to formulate a Treaty 
of Peace which should prevent the recurrence of 
war. Every rightful impulse of the human 
heart was in accord with that purpose. From 
time immemorial, men have dreamed of peace; 
poets have sung of it; philosophers have written 
about it; statesmen have discussed it; men every- 
where have hoped and prayed that the day might 
come when wars would no longer be necessary in 
the settlement of international differences. ( A p- 
plause. ) 

For the first time in the turbulent annals of 
the human race, such a project had become feas- 
ible. The destruction of militarism, the crumbl- 
ing of thrones, the dissolution of dynasties, the 
world-wide appreciation of the inner meaning of 
war and the final triumph of democracy had at 
last made it possible to realize the dearest dreani 
that ever crossed the night of man's dark mmd. 

40 



( 



The opportunity for sen ice was as great as the 
need of the world and the failure to render it 
must stand as a reproach for all time. (Applause) 

It is said that if the dead who died in the Great 
War were placed head to feet, they would stretch 
from New York to San Francisco, and from San 
Francisco hack again to New York; and if those 
who perished from starvation and from other 
causes collateral to the war were placed head 
to feet, they would reach around the great globe 
itself. At this very hour, millions of men and 
women and little children are the victims of our 
hesitancy. How can the heart of America be 
closed to these things? 

I have been many miles in this country and it 
has been my fortune to visit most of the States 
of the Union. It has so happened that I have 
been in many of these States when the boys were 
coming from the front. I have seen the great 
avenues of our splendid American cities lined 
with the populace, cheering and cheering again 
4 as these brave lads marched by, happy that they 

had come triumphantly home. But I have never 
witnessed these inspiring sights without thinking 
of the boys who did not come home. They do 
not rest as strangers in a strange land — these 
soldiers of liberty. The generous heart of France 

41 



enfolds them. The women and the children of 
France cover their graves with flowers and water 
them with tears. Destiny seized these lads and 
led them far from home to die for an ideal. And 
yet they live and speak to us here in the Home- 
land, not of trivial things but of immortal things. 
Reverence and pity and high resolve — surely 
these remain to us. In that heart of hearts where 
the great works of man are wrought, there can 
be no forgetting. Oh, God, release the imprison- 
ed soul of America, touch once more the hidden 
springs of the spirit and reveal us to ourselves! 

Let the true purpose of our party be clearly 
understood. We stand squarely for the same 
ideals of peace as those for which the war was 
fought. We support without flinching the only 
feasible plan for peace and justice. We will not 
submit to the repudiation of the Peace Treaty or 
to any process by which it is whittled down to 
the vanishing point. We decline to compromise 
our principles or pawn our immortal souls for 
selfish purposes. We do not turn our backs upon 
the history of the last three years. We seek no 
avenue of retreat. We insist that the forward 
course is the only righteous course. (Applause) 

We seek to re-establish the fruits of victory, 
to reinstate the good faith of our country, and to 

42 



restore it to its rightful place among the nations 
of the earth. Our cause constitutes a summons 
to duty. The heart of America stirs again. The 
ancient faith revives. The immortal part of man 
speaks for us. The services of the past, the sac- 
rifices of the war, the hopes of the future, con- 
stitute a spiritual force gathering about our ban- 
ners. We shall release again the checked forces 
of civilization and America shall take up once 
more the leadership of the world. (Prolonged 
applause, long continued cheering and rising 
demonstration) 



43 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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